cohesion - European Centre for Modern Languages

MARILLE will examine teachers’ strategies in dealing with linguistic diversity in
classrooms and investigate the support currently given by education systems.
The development of plurilingual competence is also the subject of one of the projects
within the thematic strand “content”:
ConBaT+ will produce material for teachers and learners for CLIL teaching to
develop a plurilingual repertoire.
The Common European Framework of Reference for Languages:
Learning, Teaching, Assessment (CEFR)
The CEFR includes a descriptive scheme of language use and learning and scales of
proficiency for the different parameters of this scheme. The comprehensive descriptive
scheme is a tool for reflecting on what is involved not only in language use, but also in
language learning and teaching. The CEFR provides a common basis and a common
language for the elaboration of syllabuses, curriculum guidelines, textbooks, teachertraining
programmes, and for relating examinations to one another. It allows the
different partners involved in planning and delivering language provision and in
assessing language progress and proficiency, to co-ordinate and situate their efforts. It
is in effect a common reference tool across languages (the CEFR is non-language
specific) and is widely used in developing coherence in provision across different
languages. It is also used in policy making as a means of ensuring coherence and
transparency through the different sectors or stages in language education. Many
countries have used the publication of the CEFR to stimulate curriculum and
examination reforms in different educational sectors.
The growing acceptance of the standards presented in the CEFR has created a situation
in which public bodies, examination institutes, language schools and university
departments concerned with the teaching and testing of languages are increasingly
interested in relating their curricula and examinations to the Common Reference
Levels. A problem that arises in this regard is the question of assuring a consistent
interpretation of the levels in different contexts. A Council of Europe Manual for
relating Language Examinations to the CEFR (Council of Europe 2003), to be
published in its final version in 2008, envisages the process of linking an examination
to the CEFR in four stages.
Familiarisation: get well acquainted with the Descriptive Scheme and the Common
Reference Level system of the CEFR.
Specification: define the coverage of the examination in categories of the CEFR.
Standardisation: ensure a consistent interpretation of the Common Reference
Levels, using illustrative test items and samples of performances already calibrated
to the CEFR elsewhere.
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